Longtime Lipscomb Academy football coach dies at 66

Longtime Lipscomb Academy football coach Glenn McCadams died after recent health issues, the school announced early Thursday. He was 66.

McCadams was a high school football coach for 44 years, the last 31 at Lipscomb, where he won three state championships and was named the 2008 Tennessee High School Football Coach of the Year.

“Lipscomb Academy has lost an irreplaceable icon in its history and its soul,” L. Randolph Lowry, president of Lipscomb University, said in a statement from the school. “Coach Mac’s time with the academy spans three decades and several generations of students. He knew his game, and taught it well. But more than that, he knew that the most important thing he was teaching was character and faith. Day after day, year after year, he taught thousands of young people that they had it within themselves to be better than they thought they could be, on the field and in life.”

His overall record was 319-112 in a career that began in 1967 at Milan High School. He came to Lipscomb in 1982 as football coach and director of athletics.

The Mustangs won Class 2A state championships in 1994 and 2002 and a Class 2A title in 2007. His Lipscomb teams made the playoffs 21 times, including 18 straight from 1993-2010.

“Coach Glenn McCadams is the reason for the enormous success of Lipscomb Academy Mustang football,” Mike Hammond, vice president and headmaster of Lipscomb Academy, said. “He is highly respected by present and former players, his staff of assistants, coaches and administrators across the state, parents and colleagues at Lipscomb. His wisdom, integrity, forthright manner in expressing his position on important matters, love for others and the game of football, and his ability to demonstrate profound issues about faith and life were uniquely influential as the head coach. He will be greatly missed.”

He was born March 4, 1947 in Huntingdon, Tenn., and graduated from Huntingdon High School, where an injury ended his football career. He played basketball and baseball at Bethel and later earned a master’s degree from UT-Martin.

He is survived by his wife of 43 years, Alacia, two children and seven grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are pending.

“Glenn McCadams is one of the finest men I have ever known,” Mike Roller, Lipscomb Academy athletic director, said. “He was exactly who you want coaching your kids, not because he would make them better athletes — he did — but because he would make them better people. Yes, he was a Hall of Fame coach, but even with that very well-deserved recognition, he was a far better person than he was a coach.”

3 Comments on this post:

A great great coach and even greater man will be missed by many. I have no doubt that he is now with God and without pain. May God bless his family.

By:RTungsten on 3/21/13 at 9:12

While I didn't know him personally, his players were respectful and well coached. I can only imagine this is a reflection on Coach McAdams.

By:TITAN1 on 3/21/13 at 11:48

My daughters went to Lipscomb from K-12 and I met him a few times and he was a very good person to be around. Always very nice. He was very well respected not only by his players, but everyone who knew him.